Excitement

Wow.
GA just came back from her afternoon walk, and there were five (5) cop cars here in our neighborhood, all to arrest one guy. He lives across the street and about three houses down.
One car was parked at the only entrance to our circle, and nobody was allowed to drive in or out.

They drove off with him in handcuffs on one of the cars.

I don't yet know if this was a dangerous enough guy to warrant five cop cars, or if the county cops just have that little to do. I wonder if they'll have color photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, to be used as evidence against him.

I will report more on this when I find out what was going on. So come back to this blog!

*******

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Here's the deal. He had violated the terms of his probation.
He had failed to complete his community service.
That's right, probation violation. For this they sent in five cop cars, blocked the entrance to the neighborhood, made everybody go inside for their safety, and took the guy away in handcuffs.

There are two ways of looking at this. The cops here go overboard on everything, and I had better make sure my lawn is kept trimmed to specs. Or...
There is so little crime here that when something actually happens, every cop in the county wants to get in on it (a la Alice's Restaurant). I vote for the second option, and if that's the one, I am grateful that we live in a place like this, where the cops actually do something about crime.

Still no word on what his original crime was.

Oh deer

I took this photo yesterday, a short distance from my home, still in my neighborhood:



As much as I may complain about the heat and humidity and the traffic, I have to admit that in my neighborhood, there are some good reasons to live here and l like it.

A more mature survey

This survey tries to go beyond the usual Pepsi or Coke questions you see on MySpace. Give it a try.

1) What is your favorite volunteer activity? And how did you first get involved in it?
That would be community theatre. I have always liked the idea of acting, and one day a friend (the pizza-eating Jew, by her own description) asked me to help with a murder mystery dinner that a restaurant was planning in Wichita Falls - Backstage Restaurant, it was. It mostly involved memorizing a list of points and clues that had to be presented, in addition to some lines that formed the core of the plot. I played the captain of a cruise ship, and I had fun and met some people that did shows at Backdoor Theatre. This led to an audition for I Hate Hamlet, and I didn't get the role because the director was understandably afraid to give a major role to a complete unknown with zero theatre background. Later, I tried out for Shadowlands, which had several minor roles, and I got in that, and proved that I could be relied on to show up and learn my lines and not ruin the play. After that I got major roles to play. I'm still acting, and I can't imagine giving that up. I am also still the webmaster for Backdoor.

2) Think about the people in your life that you care about the most. What attracted you to them? Good looks? Personality? Character?
I think all three contribute in any case that I can think about. A lack of the last two would probably keep me from really caring about them, but in the reverse order of the question. Lack of character will diminish someone's value in my eyes very quickly. Lack of personality will do the same. Good looks are not really a deal-breaker, but they help. On the other hand, if you're strong in character and personality, I don't care how you look. And in fact, if you look too good, that will count against you. Sorry, it's just the way it is. I can't help it.

3) How old are you by chronological age... and how "old" are you inside?
My driver's license says I'm 57. Inside, though, I'm probably about thirty, maybe 33 and a third. Sometimes, I'm 12.

4) What do you consider to be your own physical flaws?
I'm a little overweight, my eyesight is still less than perfect (even after LASIK), my hearing is less than ideal (though not too bad for 57), and I get tired sooner than I used to. I'm old. My hair is gray.

5) What do you consider to be your own character flaws? (Skip this if it's too personal).
Mmmmm. Tough one. But here goes:

• I'm far too concerned about being accepted. I have rejection issues. Even though they may not be entirely my fault, that's still a character flaw. I try to tell the truth when asked, but I think maybe I put too much effort into making it gentle.
• Sometimes I don't tell people to blow it out their ears when I should. But that's the same flaw.
• I don't like confrontation. Yep, same flaw.
• I keep lusting after Laura San Giacomo. Hey, a different flaw!

6) Name an experience that would be worth risking your life to have. Discuss if appropriate.
Walking on the moon, or a planet other than the Earth. I think I would accept even odds for that one, that is, a 50/50 chance of making it back alive.
I suppose I have risked my life to a degree while caving, but I have always insisted on good odds before taking the risk.

7) Break your life into chapters, if you can.

• Childhood.
• High School.
• College and those wild hippie days.
• My first marriage.
• The brief time after that, as a divorced father.
• My second marriage, in Wichita Falls.
• My time in Midland.
• My time in Houston (still going on).

8) When you stand before God on Judgment Day, what do you think he will say?
I'm not sure he'll say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." More likely he'll say, "Well... I guess that will have to do. You can have a small place with a cave on the property. Maybe a small garden. Just try not to track the place up with cave mud." I suppose he could say, "What were you thinking???" I hope not.

That's probably enough. Copy the questions and use them for a blog entry... then reward yourself with your favorite snack.
OK, a Reese's will do nicely.

Fort Bend County update

At our local Target, in Missouri City, a pickup owned by a family in Arcola was parked in the fire lane. So far, not so good. You should never park in a fire lane.

Now, a Missouri City man drives up behind the truck, yells at the woman in it to move the truck and then starts ramming the rear of the woman's truck with his own car. So far, even worse, because now we're apparently fighting over who gets to park in the fire lane.

Now, the woman gets out and asks him what he's doing, so he curses at her and makes a finger gesture. Use your imagination, this is a PG rated blog, here.

The woman's husband comes out of the store with his children, and he asks the Missouri City man how come he hit the truck. Seems reasonable to me. I would be curious in that situation.

More yelling, and the Missouri City man -the one that rammed the pickup from behind - gets out of his car and rushes the Arcola man, who pushes the Missouri City man back into his own vehicle. Again, reasonable.

The Missouri City man comes at him again, waving his fists. The Arcola man punches him in the face. So far, this could be any story back in Midland, but probably not Wichita Falls.

The Missouri City man then takes his shoes off, puts them on his hands and attempts to hit the illegally parked Arcola man with the shoes! OK, now it could be happening in Wichita Falls.

The Arcola man punches the Missouri City man in the face again, then puts his children in the truck and drives off "to get the kids out of harm's way," according to the police.


Note to self: never park in a fire lane in this area. Apparently, them are prime parkin' spaces here.

Leaks in the Constitution

I'm watching an argument in a forum where I participate, and I'm generally staying out of it this time. The argument has to do with how we should treat "enemy combatants," also known as either POW's or accused criminals. And that's the problem. Which are they?

They aren't POW's, because they don't belong to an official army of an official nation state. So they don't come under the Geneva Convention.

But they aren't US citizens, so do they get a right to a criminal trial here? Or do they come under the laws of the nation they're citizens of, and thus get shipped there for trials?

It's a mess. But it's not a new mess. It's the result of decades of flex-think.

Back when we were at war with north Viet Nam, we weren't actually at war with them. Technically, it was a "police action." It was technically legal to shoot at the Viet Cong because we were there at the invitation of a legitimate government (South Viet Nam) which was resisting being taken down by their enemies. We never declared war against North Viet Nam, because that would have been inconvenient for our Congress, among other reasons. I felt at the time that we had no business sending in an army, firing weapons, killing people and breaking things, if we hadn't declared a war, but nobody listened to me or the other few thousand people who opposed this police action. I guess we had done the same thing in Korea, so there was already precedent, but the problem still remained: it wasn't a Constitutional action. And it was flex-think: it's a war but it's not really a war.

So here we are in Iraq. Once again, we're fighting a war that isn't really a war because it was never declared. But there's a difference this time. We were not invited by a legitimate government that needed defending. We invaded Iraq, sent in armies and bombs, deposed the existing government, and all without being attacked by them first, and without being invited by its government. The fact that Saddam Hussein was a sorry, merciless bastard is irrelevant to this point. If you're going to invade a country without an invitation, you have to declare a war. Don't you? But by then we were used to, and accepted, the policy of having a war (wink, wink) without ever declaring it.

And now we have our dilemma. Are our enemies soldiers and entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention? Or are they criminals? But if they're criminals, are they subject to our laws, since they aren't even in the USA when they shoot at us? What is their status? Do they get trials by our laws if we're shooting at them for violating our laws?

It's a mess.

For decades, we've been flex-thinking the Constitution, passing election laws that clearly violate the First Amendment, passing ballot access laws that clearly violate every principle of free elections, and passing hundreds of laws that violate the 9th and 10th amendments (by stretching the commerce clause beyond anything in its original intent). It's so well-established that when Ron Paul suggested obeying the Constitution, the most common criticism directed at him was that he had "crazy ideas." Yes, folks, the Constitution is now a "crazy idea."

The Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, is intended more than anything else to keep government within some boundaries. And like a dammed river, every time we punch a hole in the dam, the entire dam is further compromised. If we can't freely criticize our elected leaders, they can get by with more mischief. If they can jail us with a simple accusation, they can stop us from criticizing them. If they can confiscate our property for criticizing them without a permit (think FEC)... if they can rig the elections so that only the two parties can get on the ballot... if they can read our email and listen to our phone conversations because we "might" have terrorist connections... you get the picture. Each new hole in the dam makes it harder to repair the dam before it breaks altogether.

For the love of God, for the love of country...

...stop voting for these two corrupt parties before it's too late.

It may already be.

Hypocrites and politicians

Al Gore is not setting a good example. The energy consumption for his home is about 20 times what your home consumes, if your home is average.

And that's why I don't like to look to politicians to solve any environmental problems we may or may not have. This guy makes a film and gets an award or two and a Nobel prize and lots and lots of praise, and we're told he's the authority on Global Warming, and we're supposed to just sit back and accept what he says as Truth™ and the end of the argument. People who disagree are supposed to be scourged and run out of town.

If we're supposed to use less energy, why isn't he doing it? I am - I replaced all my incandescent light bulbs with the new energy efficient ones. I bought a Prius before gas hit $3 a gallon (it's now $4). I buy my electricity from a renewable energy plan - that's right, 100% of my home electricity use is renewable, most of it from wind.

Now maybe there is something to this global warming thing. Maybe not. But since actions speak louder than words, I'd say Mr. Gore's testimony is at the very least suspect.

Too bad we can't harness the wind coming out of the mouths of politicians. It might solve all our problems.

Album Art

Up in the reading room (or library) in our new house, we weren't quite sure what to do with the walls there. In other rooms, we've gone with themes: Scotland, Volcanoes in Hawaii, that sort of thing. GA had a brilliant idea, so we went with it. We're hanging our record albums.


Album art from Cheap Thrills, Tea for the Tillerman, Those Were the Days,
On the Border, Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, and Bookends. (Photo by wm)

Each of the albums - and there are others that aren't shown in the photo - has a memory for one or both of us. And, in each case, the album art is interesting, and the music is great to listen to. The vinyl, in case you're wondering, is still in the jacket, and we have the digital version of the contents. Most we've re-bought as CD's, but some were ripped from the vinyl.

Cheap Thrills (Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin) - I first heard this thrilling album during my first semester at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. The library had an audio system where you could bring the album to the librarian, and he/she would play it for you and issue you a set of headphones. It was intended for classical music, but here was this rock album in the pile, so I gave it a listen, and loved it. At the time, and in that city, rock music was considered to be of the devil, so you couldn't hear it on the radio. I loved it. It sure beat Boston Pops.

Tea for the Tillerman (Cat Stevens) - I bought this one for $2.94 at K-mart. It wasn't a dead dog close out, but it was on sale, and most people who bought it were interested in the top 40 track, Wild World (Oh, baby baby, it's a wild world...) but I wanted it for Father and Son, which I thought was brilliant, and which I had heard on the newly started rock station KNTO. It's still my favorite track on the album, and I will tell you that this was the absolute best Cat Stevens album ever to appear - even better than the greatest hits compilation. That song reminds me of the time I first heard it, on the way to work at the steel company where I helped form girders for mobile homes.

Those Were the Days (Mary Hopkin) - Not only is this a beautiful album cover, with Ms. Hopkin's lovely blond hair contrasted with the dark blue background, you have to admit that she has one of the finest voices to be heard in the late 60's. I'm not dissing Karen Carpenter or anything, but even her silk voice cannot beat Mary Hopkin. The entire album is gold, but my favorite track is The Fields of St. Etienne. When vacationing in Scotland, I bought the British release of the CD, which has more tracks, all of them good, though not quite as good as what appeared on the original. Had I been in Wales, her home, I would have looked for it there instead, but you get as close as you can and go on with life.

On the Border (Eagles) - This is the second best album ever done by the Eagles (you can't beat Hotel California), and it's actually a favorite of GA's. I wasn't even aware of it, it being an early album, released before I appreciated the brilliance of the Eagles. Her copy, the one hanging on the wall, was so worn out it was barely worth playing, so I bought her a CD of it as a surprise, when CD's were just starting to get popular, and we had just bought a real CD player. Old '55 is my favorite track, because for some reason it reminds me of driving at sun up on those cave trips, eight hours from Wichita Falls, with the Guadalupe mountains just coming into view.

Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir (Michael Murphy) - This is also a GA favorite, worn out by repeated playing when she was in college. Good luck finding this album - it was issued before Michael Murphy became Michael Martin Murphy and switched to strictly cowboy music. In fact, you cannot buy this album in America. It was never re-issued in CD format here. But I did some research, and found out that it was released in Australia, so I ordered it special. I had ripped the vinyl, but there is no software in the world that would clean up all those crackles and pops that GA put on it. It sounds great on CD.

Bookends (Simon and Garfunkel) - Oh, the memories. I was aware of the top 40 hits from these guys - Sounds of Silence and all that - but I had not been exposed to their more sophisticated non-commercial music until I went to a small party while in high school (Iowa Park HS, go mighty hawks) given by miss Carol Smith for some close friends. When I heard this album, I was amazed, and while I could not yet afford to go out and buy albums (I only bought singles until I got a job), I stored the memory of this great music until I could. Save the Life of My Child, Bookends, At the Zoo, Mrs. Robinson, Hazy Shade of Winter - but my favorite moment is on America. When I heard the line "and the moon rose over an open field," I felt like I was hearing beautifully crafted poetry, in an age where we were used to moon june and spoon in our music. Later, in an interview with Paul Simon I learned that he was most proud of that line, as far as lyrics go. Maybe you have to have the soul of a writer to understand this, but those words not only have a beautiful sound, but they paint a vivid picture as you listen to the music. I wonder what happened to Carol Smith. Oh, sure, we also played Inna-Gadda-da-Vida, but that isn't going on my wall anytime soon.

On an adjacent wall is hanging the Sgt Pepper album, which has obvious significance, but you can only fit so much in a photo. It has memories, too. Ah, the Beatles. Ah, the clues about Paul's death. Ah, the irony that he's the only one still alive with any talent.

Summer Mummers

I miss Summer MuMmers in Midland.
I was in that wonderful event for the last three years, and I think the best of those three years was the time that GA and I sang "He drinks tequila" for the Dirty Spanish sketch in the Olio:




Phil Tytanic always told me that that experience was as close as I was likely to get to being a rock star, and he was right. It was an incredible thrill each night as we heard the audience roaring in delight as we got to the finale in the number.

It's great fun for the audience, for sure. I will make a trip to Midland this August to see the show, and I will make a point of going backstage for the final number, It's a Grand Old Flag, right after the Can Can number, which in turn is right after the Mule Train. There's nothing like MuMmers in the world, I tell you.

But the real fun is backstage. Being a part of the melodrama, or being in the Olio troupe - either or both. Mummers is like a family - a huge, dysfunctional family. If you are going to be anywhere in west Texas in the summertime, look into the possibility of visiting the Yucca theatre for a performance of MuMmers. You may have to ask for directions, but everyone in west Texas knows where it is.



If you go, say Hi to the short guy playing the hero. Heck, say Hi to any of them. Buy them a drink.

Bats

They found a rabid bat in the Claydesta building in Midland, my new old hometown.

Usually, I just smirk when a bat is seen, because it's just over-reaction, but when they capture it, you can bet your boots the little guy will have rabies.

Generally, you never want to touch a bat that lets you get near enough to touch it, especially when not in a cave. The fact that you were able to pick it up or touch it is evidence that it is sick, probably in the later stages of rabies.

That's why bats have their reputation for carrying rabies: the ones you come in contact with almost always have it.

But among the bat population as a whole, any given bat is less likely to have rabies than a farm pig. We don't fear them when caving, and in fact we do our best to not wake them up when we come upon them.

The bat flight from inside the natural entrance
of Carlsbad Caverns (photo by wm)

Yes, I've been in bat flights, and I've had them land on me when the bats were too thick for them to avoid flying into me. They always just climb up to my shoulder and take off again. I'm not the least bit nervous in such situations, but there is no way I would get near one lying on the ground.

Houston wildlife

There are really some fun things to see in Houston.

Yesterday morning, I was on my usual 70 minute walk along the trail provided by the Sienna Plantation HOA, and I saw four deer in the man-made valley - the valley being, of course, a flood control feature.

Here's the Homeland Security satellite image:



I'm the green X, the deer are the little green dots. It's a great view down the valley when you turn the corner on the trail - one of the few places you can look down the length instead of just into it from the sides, without leaving the trail and risking being taken down by a predator.

I also saw six white herons, but I see those almost every day. The deer were special.
But yesterday afternoon, on the way to the theatre, we saw GA's alligator again, so we went back to the house to get the camera. Here he is:


Sienna Plantation alligator (photo by wm)

Now there's something you don't see in Midland or Wichita Falls every day. And he even smiled for the camera. See how friendly everyone is down here?

This and that department

• I just bought my first tank of $4 a gallon gas. I had to wait in line for the privilege.
• Tom Delay's wife is leaving the Republican party, and plans to vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate. Tom Delay can't switch because he's still hoping for a pardon. You didn't hear that from me, though.
• Six-pack Abs, the cute jogger on my walking trail, has failed to show for two days straight. This could have something to do with the recent alligator sightings.
• I have a Twitter account. I'm not sure what to do with it.
• I'm way ahead on my America on the Move challenge. I'm now just north of the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
• I'm going to go take a nap.

Pacific Crest Trail

Most of you know that I have been walking for my health and entertainment for some time now.
But what you don't know is that as of several days ago, I've been walking the Pacific Crest Trail:

Deep in the salmon colored part of the map is the Anza Borrego State Park, which has been beautiful in the morning sunlight, if a little hot. The red star is my present position, traveling north. I plan to make it to Sequoia National Forest by tomorrow night, where the hiking should be exquisite.

The hard part has been carrying the laptop in my backpack along with my food and water supply. How am I doing that?

Well... I'm walking a virtual trail. See, I established a free account with America on the Move,
which allows you to choose a trail to walk and then log in the number of steps you took today according to your handy dandy pedometer. My real-world steps are taken here in lovely Sienna Plantation in Texas, where it's just about as hot as it is on the real trail, but more humid.

Now, as to the scale, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, because if I really walked that trail, I would wear out several pairs of sturdy hiking boots, whereas I expect my sneakers to still be in good shape in July when I finish the trail. But it has given me a motivation to get out there every day, and even get up earlier to beat the heat.

What's that, Bucky? You don't want to spend the money on a new pedometer? No problem, the site will let you enter the time you spent walking (or climbing stairs or whatever) and convert that to an approximate number of steps. No, it isn't really accurate, but then neither is the pedometer.

On the way, as you make progress on their map, you get little icons to click on to show you photos of the scenery you're seeing. You get the whole experience, minus the risk of drug dealers using the trail as a drop point. Nah, you're not even missing that, especially if your real hike is in Wichita Falls.

You can also make connections with a "challenge buddy." So far, GA is my only challenge buddy. Now, if you happen to be enlisted in this noble effort, I would be delighted to have you as my challenge buddy. Once you're signed up, I can invite you via your email address to be my challenge buddy, and I can then harangue you into getting out there and walking and getting healthy.

In the meantime, take a look at that lizard, sunning on that rock. Hey -- see you in Oregon.
In the meantime, here's a progress map, which will be updated as I progress northward: